Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Perhaps one of Britain`s most persistent ancient hauntings is that of a Roman soldier who patrols the causeway connecting Mersea Island to the mainland on the Essex coast.

Travellers crossing the causeway or `Strood` have regularly seen, and even more often heard, this ghostly soldier. He may march beside a walker there with a soldier’s steady step. He may suddenly appear in the headlights of a car dashing across the causeway, and just as suddenly disappear. Some say that as the road has been raised higher than its level in Roman days only his top half is visible, as the rest tramps the level as it would have been when he lived.
For whatever reason, sightings in the autumn are said to be most common.

A video on the legend of the Mersea Island Ghost

Mersea has strong Roman connections. Because of it`s milder climate the area like today was used in the cultivation of grapes for wine.
The Island for some retiring soldiers became their home having settled into the lifestyle of Romano-British society, and it is perhaps this connection that perpetuates the legend of the Roman ghost.

The Romano-British burial mound

The gated and locked entrance

Here in this archway Roman grave goods were found.

Further confirmation of the Roman connection occurred in 1912 when an ancient burial barrow or tumulus was exacavated by archeologists who discovered at it`s centre, a small burial chamber built of Roman bricks capped by septaria (clay nodules) and inside was a lead box with a wooden lid. The box contained an urn of green glass containing cremated remains.

The grave goods today on display at Colchester Museum

Local legend links the Roman ghost to this burial mound.
So whoever the Roman ghost could be, his identity and purpose remains shrouded in mystery to this day.

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

A ghost tour is being launched at Kensington Palace, the home where Britain's Prince William grew up.

Kensington Palace in London will be open to for four nights over the Halloween weekend - October 28 to 31 - to allow tourists to learn about its haunted past.

The palace has long been speculated to house a number of ghouls, including the spirit of Queen Mary, Peter the Wild Boy and an anonymous sinister figure, who has been spotted at various windows in the property.

There are lots of strange and unusual stories which the warders have logged over the years. There are bumps in the night and that kind of thing. It's fascinating stuff and not for the faint-hearted.

A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "For years now there have been rumours about Kensington Palace being haunted. In the evenings, the place has an atmosphere all of its own.

"There are lots of strange and unusual stories which the warders have logged over the years. There are bumps in the night and that kind of thing. It's fascinating stuff and not for the faint-hearted."

Prince William and his brother Harry spent a great deal of their childhood at the palace, and he is also planning to move back, as he and new wife Duchess Catherine have taken a cottage within its grounds.

They will move next year from their current home in Anglesey, Wales, where William is training as a search and rescue pilot.

Some parts of Kensington Palace are also undergoing refurbishment, which is expected to be completed by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Source: FemaleFirst.co.uk

History

The original early 17th-century building was constructed in the village of Kensington as Nottingham House for the Earl of Nottingham. It was acquired from his heir, who was Secretary of State to William III, in 1689, because the King wanted a residence near London but away from the smoky air of the capital, because he was asthmatic. At that time Kensington was a suburban village location outside London, but more accessible than Hampton Court, a water journey on the Thames. A private road was laid out from the Palace to Hyde Park Corner, broad enough for several carriages to travel abreast, part of which survives today as Rotten Row. The Palace was improved and extended by Sir Christopher Wren with pavilions attached to each corner of the central block, for it now needed paired Royal Apartments approached by the Great Stairs, a council chamber, and the Chapel Royal. Then, when Wren re-oriented the house to face west, he built north and south wings to flank the approach, made into a proper cour d'honneur that was entered through an archway surmounted by a clock tower. Nevertheless, as a private domestic retreat, it was referred to as Kensington House, rather than 'Palace'. The walled kitchen gardens at Kensington House supplied fruits and vegetables for the Court of St. James's.

For seventy years, Kensington Palace was the favoured residence of British monarchs, although the official seat of the Court was and remains at St. James's which has not been the actual royal residence in London since the 17th century. Queen Mary died of smallpox in Kensington Palace in 1694. In 1702 William suffered a fall from a horse at Hampton Court and was brought to Kensington Palace, where he shortly died. After William III's death, the palace became the residence of Queen Anne. Sir John Vanbrugh designed the Orangery for her in 1704, and a magnificent baroque parterre 30 acre (121,000 m2) garden was laid out by Henry Wise, whose nursery was nearby at Brompton. Anne also had Christopher Wren to complete the extensions that William and Mary had begun, resulting in the section known as the Queen's Apartments, with the Wren staircase, known as 'The Queen's Entrance', which currently serves as the exit point, with shallow steps so that Queen Anne could walk down gracefully.
The Cupola Room, designed by William Kent, 1722: the monumental musical clock, which once played tunes by Handel, Corelli and Geminiani, remains in the room.

George I spent lavishly on new royal apartments from 1718. William Kent painted a staircase and some ceilings. In 1722 he designed the Cupola Room, the principal state room, with feigned coffering in its high coved ceiling; in 1819, the Cupola Room was the site of the christening of Princess Alexandrina Victoria, who had been born at Kensington, in the apartments of the Duke and Duchess of Kent (the actual room being what is now the North Drawing Room).

The last reigning monarch to use Kensington Palace was George II. For his consort, Charles Bridgeman swept away the outmoded parterres and redesigned Kensington Gardens in a form that is still recognizable today: his remaining features are The Serpentine, the basin called the Round Pond, and the Broad Walk.

After George II's death in the palace in 1760, Kensington Palace was only used for more minor royalty, including the young daughter of the Duke of Kent who was living in the Palace with her widowed mother when she was told of her accession to the throne as Queen Victoria. Queen Mary (grandmother of the present Queen) was born at Kensington Palace in 1867. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, were living at the palace. Edward VIII called the palace an "aunt heap" because of the number of royal relatives residing there.
The King's Gallery at Kensington Palace from The History of the Royal Residences by W.H. Pyne (1819).

In 1981, apartments 8 and 9 were combined to create the London residence of the newly married Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana, and it remained the official residence of Diana, Princess of Wales after her divorce until her death. Her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, went to local nursery and pre-preparatory schools in Notting Hill, which is a short drive away, and were raised in Kensington Palace, which was a "children's paradise" according to Andrew Morton, with long passageways, a helicopter pad, and many outdoor gardens, including one on the roof where the family spent many hours.

The late Diana, Princess of Wales's coffin spent its last night in London at the Palace, before the Princess's funeral at the Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997.

In 2008, it was announced that to continue living from 2010 in their previously-subsidised Apartment 10, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent would be required to begin paying rent of £120,000 a year, the market rate of the five-bedroom, five-reception flat, rather than the nominal amount of £70 per week they had been paying for the previous seven years. Queen Elizabeth II had previously been subsidising the £10,000 a month cost for the Kents to use their flat. Members of Parliament on the palaces committee had demanded the change after the Kent`s' rent had come to light. The Kent`s have lived in the apartment since 1979, only paying their utility bills prior to 2002. Other minor members of the royal family who reside at the palace are the Duke and Duchess of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

Sadly, as with this report and many others from across the world and including Europe and America show, that these practises are alive and well. Even in London, a young African child`s body was found dumped in the river Thames - believed to be the victim of satanic sacrifice.

Britain's Ministry of Defence ceased to collect UFO reports as of December 2009, because, as they put it, "...in over fifty years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom." However, the UFO files being released by the British National Archives contain cases that clearly should be of concern, and I am not alone in this opinion. In fact, the last batch of files includes correspondence between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and two high level military officials who were adamant that UFO cases should be taken more seriously.

The highest ranking among those hounding the MOD about UFOs was Baron Hill-Norton, former Admiral of the Fleet (1970-71), Chief of the Defence Staff (1971-73), and head of NATO's military committee (1974-77). Two years after his retirement in 1977, Peter Hill-Norton was made Baron and a member of the House of Lords. As you can see, Lord Hill-Norton was quite an impressive chap and known as a tough and aggressive leader. In other words, he didn't take no crap.

At some point Lord Hill-Norton took an interest in UFOs, and was unsatisfied with the MOD claiming that they were of no concern. He badgered the MOD with questions, trying to get them to actively investigate important cases. There are over 300 pages of correspondence between Lord Hill-Norton and the MOD in the latest batch of UK UFO files.

Lord Hill-Norton took a particular interest in the Rendlesham forest case. In late December of 1980, several US servicemen witnessed UFO activity over a two day period near the bases of RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge, both on lease by the US from the UK. The Rendlesham forest surrounds the bases. One of the witnesses included Deputy Base Commander, Charles Halt, who was ordered to forwarded a memo on the incident to the MOD.

In a response dated October 22, 1997 to Minister of State for Defence, Lord Gilbert, who claimed the Rendlesham sightings were not of interest, Lord Hill-Norton wrote:

My position both privately and publicly expressed over the last dozen years or more, is that there are only two possibilities, either:

a.An intrusion into our Air Space and a landing by unidentified craft took place at Rendlesham, as described.

or b.The Deputy Commander of an operational, nuclear armed, US Air Force Base in England, and a large number of his enlisted men, were either hallucinating or lying.

Either of these simply must be 'of interest to the Ministry of Defence', which has been repeatedly denied, in precisely those terms. They, or words very like them, are used again in your letter and I believe, in the light of the above, you would not feel inclined to sign your name to them again.

Further, Lord Hill-Norton pushed Lord Gilbert on the sensitive question of whether there were nuclear arms on the base, which would have been against their agreement with US. Lord Hill-Norton asked Lord Gilbert, "Whether they are aware of reports from the United States Air Force personnel that nuclear weapons stored in the Weapons Storage Area at RAF Woodbridge were struck by light beams fired from an unidentified craft seen over the base in the period 25-30 December 1980, and if so, what action was subsequently taken."

Lord Gilbert responded, "There is no evidence to suggest that the Ministry of Defence received any such reports." He continued that he intended "neither to confirm nor to deny where nuclear weapons are located either in the UK or elsewhere, in the past or at the present time."

In 2001, Lord Hill-Norton asked that the MOD reopen its investigation into the Rendlesham forest incident. He was told, "No additional information has come to light over the last 20 years to call into question the original judgment by the Ministry of Defence that nothing of defence significance occurred in the location of Rendlesham Forest in 1980. Accordingly there is no reason to hold an investigation now."

Clearly upset with this response, Lord hill-Norton replied, "I have now had time to have a proper look at your letter dated 22nd March, and I find it not so much disappointing as absurd. This for various reasons but mainly because you seem unable to grasp what we are arguing about." Lord Hill-Norton continued, "There is a great deal more, now in the public domain which makes it beyond any possible doubt that the incident most certainly was of considerable Defence interest, and it is absurd of you to pretend otherwise."

Ralph Noyes, who retired as the Under Secretary of State in 1977, was another British government official whose letters petitioning that the UFO matter be taken serious can also be found in the UK UFO files. In 1969 he was head of Defense Secretariat 8 (DS8), and one of his responsibilities was to answer public questions about UFOs. He says he was not able to share his true opinions on the subject. In the files he states, "It is only since I left the MOD (in 1977) that I have seriously tried to consider what may possibly lie behind the 'UFO phenomenon'. It was impossible to discuss it seriously within the Department: I would merely have 'rubbished' my working relationship with the RAF and scientific colleagues if I had disclosed the interest I felt in the better reports which reached us. What I retain from my MOD experience -- greatly reinforced by much that I have since read -- is that the 'phenomenon' is veridical and important"

There is one more British official of note in the files, who also disagrees with the stance that UFOs pose no concern. Nick Pope ran the MOD's UFO desk from 1991 to 1994. In a recent article by Lee Speigel of the Huffington Post, Pope actually apologized for having to play down the importance of UFO sightings when responding to public inquiries on the matter while manning the MOD UFO hot seat.

In a recent Open Minds article on Ralph Noyes, Antonio Huneeus, suggested that some of the responses Noyes received from the MOD might have actually been authored by Pope. I emailed Pope to inquire about Huneuus' suspicions, which Pope confirmed. He went on to write:

I had tremendous respect for Ralph Noyes, who I met on several occasions. He briefed me about his earlier UFO-related work at the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Defense. In many ways, we grappled with the same problem, albeit several years apart: we had official responsibility for a phenomenon that defied conventional explanation, but we faced a situation where we had to follow the official line that UFOs were of no defense significance. But this was Orwellian doublethink. How could it not be of defense interest, when our own radar systems were picking up these things, when jets were being scrambled and when both pilots and radar operators confirmed that these objects -- whatever they were -- were capable of speeds and maneuvers that defied conventional explanation? So we had a bizarre situation where we were telling the public that we weren't interested, but behind the scenes, our scientific and technical intelligence specialists were desperate for data, hoping that solving the UFO mystery might enable us to make a quantum leap breakthrough in propulsion system technology, aerodynamics or a related field.

Pope continued to explain, "The ultimate irony was that it wasn't just the public who were out of the loop. There were factions at the MoD on this issue. I was involved in work that led to the setting up of a highly classified study into the UFO phenomenon, codenamed Project Condign. But my successors didn't enjoy the close relationship with the Defense Intelligence Staff that I'd had, and weren't briefed on the study. When the final report was issued in 2000, it wasn't copied to Directorate Air Staff, despite their being the division with the policy lead for UFOs! When the report was declassified and made public under the Freedom of Information Act, there was a farcical situation: it emerged that the people who had been sending out letters to the public saying that MoD didn't investigate UFOs hadn't been aware that, behind their backs, intelligence staffs had been doing the very thing that the civil servants had been telling parliament, the media and the public that we didn't do."

WINGDALE – Five people have been arrested on the grounds of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in Wingdale and they told State Police they were there because of rumors that it was haunted.

They were each issued appearance tickets returnable to Dover Town Court.

The center looks too dangerous to investigate

Some Background

The question certainly isn’t “is the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center haunted” but rather, “how many souls still call HVPC home?” As with most abandoned buildings, “no trespassing” signs abound around the property. A first for this researcher, a “no photographs” sign sat amongst the ruins, and of course, I took a picture of it. Two commonly used roads are still open on the property and give the curiosity seeker a great vantage point of much of the campus. Rumours of trespassing arrests keep many investigators at bay.

Jeremy Brown of HiddenHometown.com was able to gain permission to document the ruins of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center. Mr. Brown feels, “There is undoubtedly a presence of sorts inside those buildings. There’s a heavy feeling of sadness that hangs over every room, a great sense of loneliness and despair. In certain places, like the padded cells, it was almost stifling.”

Others have reported leaving the buildings with bruises on their arms, experiencing elevators that seem to have a mind of their own, hearing the sound of a pack of dogs in the basement, seeing lights on when there is no electricity present, and so much more. With no investigations having taken place at HVPC, we have no scientific evidence, but this researcher believes that none is necessary.

My advice is that many abandoned buildings like former hospitals are far too dangerous even to visit during the day due to weakened floors, missing stairs and a host of other dangerous uncertainties. You risk more than a fine if you go to these locales at night.

A ghost picture taken by Cornish paranormal investigators has caused a web sensation.
The shot, taken last week at Chambercombe Manor in Ilfracombe, North Devon, clearly shows a girls face in the window of an upstairs bedroom.

A ghostly face?

No-one has fully explained the spectral image, snapped by a team member for website Haunted Cornwall
Paranormal expert John Forster said: “Zoom in on the window and see what you think…
“It’s not a reflection, as Becci, who took the picture, looks nothing like this, and is also seven months pregnant.
“No-one else was in the room, which was on the top floor – and I checked the outside courtyard.”
He suggested it may have been a manifestation of a young girl.
John explained: “Our team had just ‘picked up’ (sensed the presence of) a little girl, around 13 or 14, by the window.”
The spooky snap has sparked a worldwide Facebook debate, with fans of the supernatural mulling over the pros and cons.
Twenty-one year old James Wright from Boston said: ‘To me it looks as though there is definitely a face on the right side of the window, third square down.
“It looks like the person has something on their right shoulder (left as we look at it). Very interesting!”
Paula Phillips, 3, from New Zealand, added: “It’s scary – I saw a face – looks like two girls.

A close-up

But Bryan Saunders of thought the image was all in the mind.
The 41 year old said “I presume by ‘face’ you mean the pink blob on the right hand side of the window about half way down.
“I can’t see anything that could resemble a person.
Bryan said he thought it was a case of people seeing ‘faces’ in objects, such as the ‘Man in the Moon’.
He went on: “Certainly pareidolia (seeing faces in natural phenomenon) could be taking place.
“Unfortunately we don’t have a picture of what’s outside – and that means there’s a chance the “face” could be an outside building or light.”
The ghost hunter concluded: “I’d still opt for reflection and distortion in the old glass of the window.”
Chambercombe Manor is a well-known haunted house.
Legend has it the skeleton of a woman was found walled in a secret room there in the 16th Century.

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Chattanooga business owner Shane Hendrix recently purchased the restaurant formerly known as The Red Lantern and found out the building has a long, unique history.
“My understanding was that it was originally built as a saloon and bordello,” Southside Saloon owner Hendrix said.

Originally built in the late 1890s, the building has held many other businesses, such as a bottling company, a Mexican restaurant and then The Red Lantern.
Upstairs there are still several small rooms that were used when the business was a brothel.

The last two owners changed the business to its current name and Hendrix kept that name when he bought the space about six months ago, although still considers changing it.
“We decided to keep the name, only because we couldn’t think of another one,” he said. “We thought about changing it back to The Red Lantern, but there was a lot of negative stuff that went with that.”
The old building, which is located at 1301 Chestnut Street, is thought to be haunted and Hendrix is in talks with the leaders of a Chattanooga ghost tour who may make the business the last stop on the tour.

Hendrix said there are supposedly three ghosts, one of whom employee Darlene Wallace has named George.
“He’s a big man with white hair and a white beard,” Wallace said.
Although Wallace is the only one who has actually seen him, other employees said they have seen evidence of him.

Hendrix said there was an unusual instance when a clock fell off the wall and into a trash can without disturbing any of the items below.
“I have no idea how the stuff in front of it didn’t move,” he said.

Wallace said George likes to swing the pots and that he threw a pot across the room.
“He’s a prankster,” she said.
Source: Nooga.com

Further enquiries on the internet reveal that the restaurant has been subject of past paranormal investigations and here is a report from WDEF.com a local news TV channel.

Recently I discovered this clip on Youtube and purportedly shows the apparition of what appears to be a small child which was caught on camera during an investigation at Leeds Castle, Kent.
The poster believes this to be the ghost of Princess Caroline - King Henry XIII`s daughter who died at the age of 13 months some 400 odd years ago.
Whether this is a royal Princess or not, it does show something akin to a child.
The camcorder had been left to run remotely for a period of time when the capture was made.

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Today there will be no posts as we are preparing for a major late night investigation at a notoriously haunted site in North Essex, UK.
Hopefully later tonight in the early hours I may be able to share with you some of the best captures of the evening.

Our blog has become a regular daily news feed on all things paranormal, and your level of support has jumped in leaps and bounds in the last few months as the blog has become more widely viewed.

Recently, I decided to include cryptid and UFO feeds that I feel are worthy of sharing as unfortunately (as with ghost material) there is much hoax footage and stories out there, and finding the right balance of material is very difficult.

I do hope I`ve got that right, and as this is also a shared resource I am more than happy to take your views onboard to guarantee that everyone has something of interest that they want to see.
Currently, research for news feeds takes around two hours a day, and a lot of that time is spent going through new footage links and looking for choice news stories.

If you are a writer on the paranormal with good news stories to share I am more than happy to share them here with full accreditation. You also may well be involved with a paranormal group or working within an ancient building where you have captured interesting photographs or footage that I may have missed. Additionally, you may have some ideas that you feel might improve the site.

Either way, if you have newsworthy material please contact me by writing to me here, or at the Facebook link provided in the right hand panel.

Tomorrow I will be back to normal providing regular feeds that I hope will interest you.

Friday, 26 August 2011

There is a new paranormal phenomenon covering the world. It isn`t ghosts, cryptids or UFO`s, it`s unidentified noise.
You would be thinking that all noise has an attributable source, that any scientist worthy of their salt would be able to come up with an explanation, and importantly lay this `ghost` to bed, but they can`t, and this audio phenomena appears to be on the increase.

Some theorists have argued that the source may be the controversial `High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program` (HAARP) project.
This project built by the British BAE (BAE Systems plc) was constructed to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance purposes.

The HAARP program operates a major Arctic facility, known as the HAARP Research Station, on an Air Force owned site near Gakona, Alaska, and is jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

According to conspiracy theorists this is a weapon of mass destruction that utilises the weather systems to create `natural` disasters which could be used to deadly effect to destroy `enemy` countries prior to any occupation.

Whatever the cause or source may be, this sound phenomenon seems to be on the increase as you will see and hear from just a few videos linked from Youtube. Be your own judge and decide for yourself..

Here is a departure from my usual reports as these incidents reportedly occurred not far from my home in Essex, England.

BBC reporter Mr Sewell, 41, said on 3rd August 2011 he saw a bright light descending towards the ground as he returned to the Midlands in the early hours of the morning.

'I was probably about 15 or 20 miles from Stansted at 4.15 in the morning and there was this big bright light in the sky descending towards the road,' he told Radio 5.

'As it got closer it then banked to the left, and as it banked to the left and went across the countryside I could see underneath it.

'It wasn't an aeroplane, and it wasn't a helicopter. Certainly of a kind of - and I dread saying this - disc shape. It had several lights flashing all around it.

'It was not the shape of a normal aircraft it was a big disc, round-shaped craft and it didn't leave.

'I watched it for two or three minutes before I eventually lost sight of it. I decided to go back again through the village.

'It's a very quiet area and I've spoken to someone who knows it very well and they said there's no military installations in that area so I would be intrigued to hear if anybody else saw it.'

On 20th August the media highlighted a video on Youtube of UFO`s filmed on the M11 in late July which appears to show UFO`s across the motorway and not far from Stansted Airport.

Now declassified top-secret X Files and witness reports show TEN more sightings there dating back to 1940.

UFO expert Nick Pope – who used to work for the Ministry of Defence investigating UFOs – said the area was a "UFO hotspot".

The first report was in 1940, when army worker Emily Crewe, 21, told of a huge golden ball in the sky with sparks flying from it at the military camp where she was based.

She said: "It came right up to the window. Its 'skin' seemed smooth, like rubber but transparent, and I could see something bright moving inside the object. Then it began behaving like a jelly, shaking and wobbling."

Terrified Emily said it then jumped a fence before vanishing into a nearby forest.

The next sighting did not come until 1986. Airport worker Kim Kingrey, 46, said: "I saw an oval-shaped object with orange lights all around it, and a bluish light underneath with a yellowish light on top. It was not moving at all."

In 2003 a Ryanair captain spotted a "ball of fire, very bright, no colour" whizzing past his jet over the airport.

In 2006, hundreds of glowing lights were seen flying through the sky over White Roding in Dunmow, just east of Stansted.

The Ministry of Defence could not rule out that they were alien craft. In 2009 there were three sightings and last year two more.

A former cop saw an orange flying saucer near Puckeridge, Herts, west of Stansted, last July. A similar craft was spotted the next month in nearby Bamber's Green.

In April this year, 50 mysterious lights were seen flying in unison just 15 miles north of Stansted at Duxford, Cambs.

Nick Pope said: "The descriptions rule out aircraft and the fact that witnesses include pilots and police make them particularly credible."

Thursday, 25 August 2011

Unexplainable events have mystified the human race for centuries. Ghostly sightings have been blamed on insanity, hallucinations and pure story telling. Spirits that roam the Earth looking for the door to the afterlife is to some a real phenomenon.

Our nation’s fascination with the afterlife has spurred many television shows, and independent paranormal investigation teams. While real life paranormal investigators don’t always agree with televised investigators, they all seek to find the answers to one of the oldest questions of mankind: Are ghosts real?

The United States Military has for decades been accused of secret paranormal studies in areas such as Area 51. Conspiracy theories concerning Roswell range from the examination of UFO’s and its occupants to the development of time travel and teleportation. For America, it’s a highly controversial and widely speculated topic. For foreign countries the US military is a defense force that the world relies on.

While America is currently at war with Afghanistan and Iraq, the military is called for numerous peace keeping missions. The crisis in Libya is one of many. The military has roughly 1.5 million active troops. These troops make up five military branches: The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

Out of all these military services, one stands out in discipline, lethal force, and training. U.S. Army Rangers are able to deploy anywhere with 18 hour notice. They specialize in getting troops quickly and quietly behind enemy lines. Rangers often parachute down to conflict areas, experts at airborne assaults. Soldiers also use fast lines, rope lines that descend from a helicopter.

Rangers are extremely versatile capable of shifting from a special operations mission into a conventional mission. For example, if the Rangers' mission is to obtain an airfield, they may parachute in, eliminate any threats and take control of the airfield. Once the initial mission is accomplished, Rangers can join forces with our military services and continue on.

Combine the US Army Rangers with paranormal studies and the direct result is T.R.O.O.P.S, the Tactical Research Operations of the Paranormal Science. T.R.O.O.P.S. is a non-profit organization specializing in the unexplainable composed of active U.S. military soldiers.
US Army Ranger and New York native Edward Sears and Navy Seal Sniper Sgt. Aaron Ahearn founded T.R.O.O.P.S. in December of 2010.

“We all had weird and unexplainable experiences when we were young, even myself when I was deployed I experienced an event that made me rethink the paranormal,” said Sears.

Here is a tale of two currently serving soldiers - one Navy Seals and the other, a U.S Army Ranger who have formed an alliance (based upon their military skills) to investigate the paranormal. Quite how being such a specialist soldier equates to a good paranormal investigator is something I look forward to seeing.

Is this another TV inspired gimmick? No disrespect intended, but you decide.

UFOS, ghosts and poltergeists have been to blame for police call outs over recent years.
In a series of bizarre claims Lancashire Police have investigated several potential supernatural events.
In one case a ghost was even blamed for causing a car crash.
In the South Ribble and West Lancashire area police investigated five reports of supernatural occurrences in the past five years according to information gained under the Freedom of Information Act..

In August 2006 officers were called to a car crash in Scarisbrick.
After speaking to passengers in the car, which hit a wall after avoiding something crossing the road, there was a clash of opinions between the cause.
The police logged: “Driver thought it was a rabbit, but a passenger said he thought it was a ghost.”
In Skelmersdale in March last year, a caller, who was babysitting at a friend’s house, said a poltergeist was after him.

The caller “described water dripping from the ceiling and things flying around, walls moving, smoke or condensation filling the house and stated that the poltergeist was trying to kill him.”
After investigating, police officers logged: “no evidence of anything unusual at the premises and concerns raised that the caller may either have mental health issues or may have taken drugs earlier that evening.”

In Bamber Bridge a motorist phoned 999 to say he had seen “a ball with a green flash of light about 15ft long and about 100ft up in the air” fly over the motorway in 2009.

Welfare officers had to check reports of ghosts in A&E at Chorley Hospital in 2007, while in Penwortham a caller reported someone outside their home tapping on the window, making weird ghost-like noises and lights going on and off, but could not see anyone.
Police found it was the caller’s son, checking to see if they were OK.
Source: Ormskirk and Skelmersdale Observer

Earlier in August 2011, Haunted Earth joined by guest Michelle Kim re-visited one of our regular haunts at the ancient church which dates back to the earliest days of Christianity in Britain.
Every visit produces different activity, and on this occasion it was quite unique.
Whilst filming we heard quite clearly the sound of footsteps around us when filming as well as foul smells and EVP.

The problems with recording paranormal sound is that it does not always convey as well as the actual experience of being there as well as hearing and feeling it. Often what is heard is not recorded, and that which is present sounds very weak unless electronically cleaned to raise the volume.
However, this investigation captured much of it, plus EVP as well.
We hope you enjoy this abridged 90 odd minute investigation.

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – There are some real ghost stories being shared with the cast and crew of the new film “Ghost of Goodnight Lane”, currently filming in Dallas.
Seventeen years ago filmmaker Alin Bijan purchased two buildings on Goodnight Lane and turned them into a movie studio.

Spooky goings on at the Dallas set?

While he has been very successful over the years, producing numerous projects for television and the big screen, when working at the movie studio he felt there was always something lurking in the corners, closets and hallways.
Bijan knew the feelings he had in the buildings weren’t ‘all in his head’, so he had two well-respected experts in the world of paranormal sightings visit his offices. Their independent investigations came up with the same conclusion — the place is haunted!
The original property was a ranch built in the late 1800′s. Legend has it five people died there at the turn of the century and it is their spirits that remain present today.

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Further to my news report on the alleged hauntings at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples on Tuesday, 23 August 2011.

In my original report I referred to a ghost of a little girl captured by the architect which I have now been able to share.

The newspaper Il Mattino​ reports ..
Mr. Oreste Albareno told the paper that he had managed to take a photo of what he believed to be a ghost on his mobile phone.
“It shows a little girl but there was no little girl on the site,” he said.

The ghostly image of a little girl that Oreste Albareno captured.

Museum director Valeria Sampaolo had called in the ghost hunters to solve the mystery and get the building works back on track.

Here are two reports on this (in Italian) concerning the haunted museum.

Further updates will be provided after an investigation has been carried out at the museum.

A NEW set of strange marks have reportedly appeared at a property in Jaen province where mysterious ‘faces’ first appeared on the walls 40 years ago.
On August 23, 1971, the owner of the house in Belmez de la Moraleda, Maria Gomez, claimed that while she was cooking, the clear form of a human face appeared on the cement floor of her kitchen.
Five days later, it was pick-axed and covered with plaster, but within days, the face of a man with a long moustache allegedly appeared once again in the same place.
Over the next few days, more ‘faces’ appeared on the kitchen floor and the corridor, which sometimes disappeared, moved or changed into different images.

The original newspaper report

Famous figures from the world of parapsychology began to visit the site and classed it as a mystery, and people came, and still do, from near and far, to see the ‘faces’.
Maria would accept money from them, and charge film crews, reporters and writers to take photos. Meanwhile, some local publications claimed they had tested the site and found the ‘faces’ were painted with nitrate and silver chloride. Further tests by the Spanish National Research Council, however, showed that these substances had not been found.
Maria Gomez died in 2004, and the Spanish Society for Parapsychology Research visited her home in search of more ‘faces’. It was then that less clear ‘faces’ were allegedly seen. The media accused the town hall of having fabricated the ‘faces’ after being unable to obtain the house where the first images had appeared to run as a tourist attraction. However, the town hall has always refuted the paranormal origin of the ‘faces’.
Although Maria’s relatives claimed they were not seeking money, in 2005, a member of her family registered ‘Las Caras de Belmez’ as a trademark. In 2007, a book was published which intended to show once and for all that the ‘faces’ had been created artificially, but on the other hand, those who support that they are authentic, believe the origin is a Muslim cemetery from the 13th century which may be located under the house.

Some of the mysterious ‘faces’

Excavations did reveal human remains underneath the kitchen, but not in large amounts. Others believe there is an underground water source in the area.
Just last week, a group carrying out research at the property where Maria was born (where ‘faces’ were seen in 2004), which had been closed for the past few months, reported having seen new marks on a wall which had been rendered just before the house was closed. An investigation will be carried out.By Jennifer Leighfield
Source: Euro Weekly News (Spain)A case of people cashing in on a legend by creating a hoax - or a spiritual return?I`m inclined to believe this is probably fake - You decide..

Firsthand accounts from witnesses are numerous, and findings from paranormal researchers suggest downtown could be a spiritual cage for the paranormal.

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead ...

All apologies to those Rod Serling fans out there, but this time we aren't talking about the Twilight Zone. Rather, it’s Main Street in downtown Menomonee Falls.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, several folks who work downtown say they are firsthand witnesses of strange energy operating inside their buildings. No one can explain what it might be, but they’ll all tell you it’s definitely something.

And according to several paranormal research groups in the Milwaukee area, downtown Menomonee Falls has all the right physical features to make spiritual activity more prevalent, or perhaps it just we're just more perceptive of the paranormal.

Seeing Emily play

Walk into Pink Lemonade on any given day and ask them about Emily. You’ll likely get a smile, and definitely a few stories. Pink Lemonade manager Dionne Petropoulos said that’s the name they gave to the mischievous spirit that haunts the building.

Last year, Petropoulos and her coworkers were enjoying a Christmas party. They had locked up the salon and Petropoulos and another employee were the only two with keys, and they were together.

When they returned later in the evening, they were shocked to find a haircutting scissors jammed into side of their front desk. Apparently, Emily also took the time to turn on the water in a back room, and flooded the salon floor. There were no other signs of forced entry, and the doors were locked.

“The scissors were in so deep we couldn’t get them out and needed to call a stronger guy over to pull them out,” Petropoulos said.

On another occasion, Petropoulos and a coworker left the store for just an hour to run to Target. Again, they locked down the store and they were the only two with a key. When they returned, every single salon chair had been pushed into the middle of the room.

Two stylists said they have actually seen Emily and even mistook her for a customer one evening. However, she suddenly vanished.

They described her as a young girl with long hair wearing a sweater. There have been numerous instances where employees recall hearing a little girl laughing in the room, and things crash and fall unexplainably.

“When stuff happens, we just say, ‘It probably was Emily.’” Petropoulos said with a smile.

Paranormal activity widespread in downtown

It seems Emily also likes to play next door at Angelo’s Café Vino as well. Although owner Angelo Petropoulos is married to Dionne, he is much more skeptical about the existence of paranormal activity.

One night at about 1 a.m., Petropoulos said he was closing the bar down, and was the only one in Café Vino. Suddenly, before his eyes, he watched a bar stool slowly slide backward squeaking across the floor as if someone was pulling it out to sit in it.

“I literally came out from behind the bar, sat in the very bar stool and said, ‘You aren’t going to scare me,’” Petropoulos said.

He’s witnessed the door to the kitchen open by itself, and his employees have also heard the gleeful laughing of the little girl while alone at the bar.

But paranormal activity isn’t isolated to that building alone, which long ago was a hotel on the corner of Mill and Main streets. Just a few doors down, something eerie might be lurking in the cellar of Purloin Studio.

Cale Youngbeck is the handyman for several downtown buildings owned by his uncle Bill Bode. He was working on a project in another building, but left a tool he needed back at Purloin. Rather than enter through the front door to grab it, he decided to go through the cellar.

A single bulb provided the only light in the windowless cellar. Youngbeck’s single shadow was cast against the wall. However, when he glanced up again, he saw that a second silhouette of a human figure was accompanying him in the dark cellar.

“I didn’t even attempt to see what it was. The hair stood up on the back of my neck and I was pretty creeped out,” Youngbeck said. “I ran out of there instantly.”

At Trivera Interactive, which has offices in the historic Mill Building, unexplainable incidents are a routine part of the job.

Owners Tom and Marjie Snyder said the strong smell of sulphur will frequently fill the room, which is a sign of paranormal occurrences. Their XM radio has often switched channels on its own, and a securely hung sign mysteriously flew off the wall one day.

Their suspicions were reinforced with some proof when a job applicant came into the building for an interview. This particular applicant also happened to be a paranormal investigator.

“When he walked out of the elevator he instantly stopped dead in his tracks and said, ‘This place is haunted,’” Tom Snyder said.

Accounts of spiritual activity in the basement of A.J. O’Brady’s have also been circulated. Apparently this mischievous spirit likes to knock things off the shelves while employees are downstairs.

All this spritual mischief; however, could be pegged to a spirit said to roam downtown.

There is a local legend regarding a man who was hit by a car and killed on Main Street long ago. According to the tale, the tall bearded man can be spotted at times walking along Main Street late at night murmuring to himself. He’s been known to meddle with the downtown clock, and some have blamed him for the fire that destroyed the Honeybucket long ago.

A hotbed of spiritual activity

Throughout the Greater Milwaukee area, there are several groups that specialize in the scientific study and investigation of paranormal activity. After contacting three of these groups, the general consensus among them was that downtown Menomonee Falls has all the physical traits conducive of paranormal activity.

Since spiritual beings do not possess a physical body, they must draw upon the free energy in the environment in order to manifest themselves in some way, said Noah Leigh, a lead investigator with Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee. The energy they draw upon is monitored with instruments that measure electromagnetic waves.

“There are a number of factors that may play a role in creating spiritual energy,” Leigh said. “Having a body of water nearby that flows close to buildings or underneath them, and having limestone as bedrock in an area can act as a battery to store this energy.”

Check both of those off of the list for downtown Menomonee Falls. Water flows continually over the top of Lepper Dam from Mill Pond, which is built of limestone. The river then flows through Lime Kiln Park carving a path through the limestone bedrock.

Leigh said the quartz that is within the limestone is the key energy booster. He said quartz was once used in radio communications to transmit signals, and is utilized in a similar way in the paranormal realm. Water is also a good conductor of electricity and Leigh said they have discovered a higher level of paranormal activity occurs near bodies of water.

D.W. Steffan, an investigator with the Greater Milwaukee Paranormal Research Group, said Falls’ historic downtown buildings are also conduits of energy that spirits draw from. Old wiring emits electromagnetic energy, and often the old wiring is still within buildings and paired with updated wiring.

He said running the new and old parallel to each other in old buildings acts as an amplifier for energy emitted — similar to an old fashioned television attenna. Lastly, the tall power lines that run through downtown are also strong conduits of electromagnetic energy.

“The Falls is a place I’d love to spend more time in,” Steffan said. “We get calls from many people out there, but they are very strict about remaining confidential, which is too bad.”

Steffan said the physical factors combine in downtown Menomonee Falls to create what he calls a “spiritual cage” where not only is paranormal activity more prevalent, but our ability to perceive it is also heightened.

“When you get all these factors together you in a sense have a giant electromagnetic field in an area, and you can become more alert to things you wouldn’t normally hear and wouldn’t normally see,” Steffan said.

Karen Kolasa, an investigator with Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee, is also what they term a “sensitive." A “sensitive” is someone who can physically feel the effects in areas with a heightened amount of electromagnetic energy. She said it causes her to at times feel queasy or have a headache.

Kolasa said people who live near areas of high electromagnetic energy can have similar side effects. It may also be an explanation behind why a person claims to feel a spiritual presence or see things.

“Any area with high EMF frequencies can cause anyone to feel like they’re being watched, or have that strange feeling like someone is following them,” Kolasa said. “Often that can explain why people see things, or feel the presence of a spirit.”

Believe it or not

Paranormal investigators vow that they approach their research and investigations of paranormal activity like any other scientist. They use data and continually test their assumptions in an attempt to sort fact from fiction.

“There are no absolutes in this field, but there are beliefs. However these are beliefs that should be well tested and continually challenged,” Steffan said.

In fact, Steffan has been testing the electromagnetic qualities of limestone. He said they’ve placed limestone in a microwave, among many other experiments, to test the rock’s residual electromagnetic field.

For many skeptics, the stories and evidence presented in this article will simply be passed off and explained away in some rational matter. But next time you find yourself in downtown Menomonee Falls, pay close attention to whether your paranormal senses are heightened. You might have an unbelievable story to tell as well.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

An Italian museum has invited paranormal experts from all over the world after workers carrying out overnight renovations downed tools claiming the building was haunted.

The building staff say they have heard soul-piercing screams - temperatures that suddenly plunged and even seen ghosts while working at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy.

The experts are now due to arrive in September to investigate.

The architect responsible for works, Oreste Albareno, took photos with his mobile phone and said he was shocked noticing there was a young female on a photo, although none of the workers had taken a daughter into the building.

"There is something strange that happens at nights in this museum. Objects inside get mysteriously moved or vanish, and there are the apparitions as well", one of workers told daily Il Mattino.

Museum director Valeria Sampaolo said she had organised the meeting of paranormal experts to solve the mystery and get the building works back on track.

The case has been likened to the the smash hit move Nights In the Museum where the exhibits come to life at night after the museum closes because of the power of an ancient relic displayed on the premises.

Director Valeria Sampaolo added: "I don't know what is causing what the builder's claim they have seen and we do have many ancient artefacts with mysterious backgrounds - but at the end of the day I want it to stop - I want people to talk about our museum because of the exhibits and not the ghosts."
Source: Croatian Times

Monday, 22 August 2011

The Sun Inn in Bethlehem has long been the subject of tales of the supernatural, but one paranormal researcher said he caught what he believes to be a spirit on camera last month.
"The freakiest thing I've ever seen in paranormal," said Scott Wiley, who claimed the black shadow seen on his video is a ghost. "If you take it snapshot by snapshot, you actually see the arms, the legs, the head. You can see the whole back everything."
This isn't the first time a paranormal group has claimed to have captured something at the Sun Inn.

The innkeeper has a lot of stories to tell.
"They set up their equipment and they went in to look at the chest and as they got in there you heard a voice saying, 'We're watching you,'" said Bucky Zulborski, who described another incident involving researchers in the attic of the historic inn. "She was one of the last people to leave the attic and said goodbye to the spirits, and when she got home, she played her recording back and got the voice of a little girl saying, 'Don't go.'"
Perhaps the most chilling story is about Hughetta Bender, who was passionate about preserving the Sun Inn and volunteered there for years. She died in 1995.
Then, one night a group of researchers took a picture. In the corner window, it shows what could be described as a person with white hair wearing an apron.
"When the group was looking through her pictures, I said, 'Oh my God. I know who that is,'" said Szulborski. "Ran over to the office next door and brought back a collage of pictures. There's her in her white apron. Whenever she was in the inn she wore her white apron."
Wiley said he doesn't think the image he captured on video is Hughetta and hopes to go back to the historic inn.
"Do a thorough investigation because I want to know who it is and what it is," said Wiley.
Szulborski said that's just fine. The tales of spirits are good for the inn's ghost hunting tours.

Below is the uncut footage of the alleged ghost capture. It is unfortunate that the camera operator is swinging the camera wildly and therefore in my opinion makes any clear judgement difficult.

The apparition appears from 45 seconds on the video. It looks to be wearing a cape or gown.Very odd indeed, but very interesting.

Reverend Bob Larson is in Phoenix right now exorcising demons, and if you are possessed and in need of help, you can take advantage of his offer to exorcise those demons for free. That’s right, according to his website, Reverend Larson is exorcising people for television executives in hopes of getting is own reality show. In thanks for helping him out, the possesed won’t be asked to pay the regular donation he requires for exorcisms.

If you have stage fright, don’t worry, the exorcisms will not be on television; these are just for the TV guys to see if Larson has what it takes to have his own show. If you want to be on TV you will need to wait and see if the show will air, or be a heavy metal musician.
According to the Music Feed website, Larson will also be exorcising Necrobutcher, the bass player for the Norwegian black metal band, Mayhem. Norwegian television will be sending Necrobutcher to Phoenix for the exorcism which will air on Norwegian television station NRK. According to Larson this isn’t the first heavy metal band member he has needed to exorcise.

In response to his upcoming exorcism, Necrobutcher says, “I’m not a believer … he’s a quack … I’m just there for the fun of it.”
Despite Necrobutcher’s skepticism, Larson is not likely to be dissuaded. He writes on his site:

Too often the followers of Christ are portrayed as the wimpiest individuals of all, softies both physically and spiritually who subscribe to non-violence—even when confronted by a malevolent devil.
Spiritual fighters never negotiate with the devil. This is war, not a negotiating table. Overcomer's are not looking to reach a settlement.

You may think I am making all of this up, but follow the links in the stories and you will see this is one of those moments when the truth is stranger than fiction. If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity to rid yourself of pesky demons once and for all, heck you can’t beat the price, visit the website for the Spiritual Freedom Church for more details.